Pima County Sheriff Chris Nanos is tuning out the noise amid the ongoing search for Savannah Guthrie’s mom, Nancy Guthrie.
In an interview with the Daily Mail published on Monday, February 16, Nanos shared that he’s unaffected by the “haters” — critics who claim he botched the case by releasing the crime scene early.
Nanos, however, is confident that his team was meticulous with Nancy’s home and her backyard before the FBI came and resealed the property.
“My officers were there for almost 20 hours, and they processed their scene, got it done, and brought in all the evidence,” he told the outlet. “Then the FBI came and did their thing.”
Detectives in Nancy Guthrie’s Disappearance Are ‘Stuck’ on a Motive
News broke on February 1 that Nancy, 84, was reported missing by a family member who called 911. She was last seen the previous day, when she had dinner with daughter Annie Guthrie. (Nancy shared daughters Savannah, 54, and Annie and son Camron Guthrie with husband Charles Guthrie, who died at age 49 after suffering from a heart attack.)
In the days since, Nanos shared that authorities are still unsure of the motive behind the alleged abduction of Nancy. While speaking with the Daily Mail on Monday, Nanos explained that he believes Nancy was kidnapped rather than part of a burglary gone wrong.
“This is somebody who’s disappeared from the face of the earth, and now we have a camera that says here’s the person who did this,” he explained, referring to the images released last week of the masked individual captured on a camera outside of Nancy’s residence.
He continued, “And that’s what makes me say this is a kidnapping. The motivation for it is where we get stuck, right? Is it for money? I mean, we had the one demand where they asked for money. But is it really for money, or is it for revenge for something?”
Sheriff Nearly Breaks Down Discussing Search for Savannah Guthrie’s Mom
Savannah, who has been absent from the Today show amid the ongoing search, has released messages via social media regarding Nancy’s disappearance. In an emotional video on Sunday, February 15, Savannah spoke directly to Nancy’s alleged abductor or abductors.
“It’s been two weeks since our mom was taken and I just wanted to come on and say that we still have hope and we still believe and I wanted to say to whoever has her or knows where she is, that it’s never too late,” she said via Instagram. “And you’re not lost or alone. And it is never too late to do the right thing and we are here. And we believe and we believe in the essential goodness of every human being. And it’s never too late.”
She captioned the post, “Bring her home. It’s never too late to do the next right thing.”
Hours earlier, Fox News Digital reported that local authorities deployed a digital scanner to track Nancy’s pacemaker. The outlet reported that the ongoing search introduced the “high-tech Bluetooth scanner placed on the bottom” of “helicopters” in an attempt to track the pacemaker’s signals.
“The helicopters fly low, typically in grid patterns, at a slow pace to pick up signals,” the outlet stated, noting that a helicopter was seen flying “near Guthrie’s home” three days after she was reported missing.
